You’ve probably all heard it, reflected on it, or maybe have simply seen it written in black script letters on a cute little shiplap sign on the clearance rack in the back of your local HomeGoods store. “Be still and know that I am God” Psalms 46:10. My whole life I’ve heard these words and seen them written– “Be still and KNOW THAT I AM GOD” –as a reminder to know that God was, is and always will be. It felt like a more explicit version of Exodus 3:14 where Moses asked God for whom he should tell the Israelites that he was and God righteously and boldly answered “ I am” PERIOD. What a simple yet powerful response, God simply is!
Having grown very convicted in my faith over the past decade I often hear these words with an overly arrogant internal response of “Yeah yeah yeah I’ve mastered this one, without a doubt I KNOW that He is God” and I MOVE on. So as I snuck into my kitchen between diaper changes to place these same words onto our family’s memory verse letter board (a place where I started putting Bible verses, that I thought I mastered, for my kiddos to learn, memorize and lean on) the message suddenly morphed. A whole new message overflowed from two simple words that I have never paid attention to before. BE STILL .
The irony that I never slowed down enough to really hear these two vital words gives me a little chuckle. As a self-proclaimed Type A, constantly onto the next task, frantic mess kind of a woman I had never examined the two crucial words that preceded in knowing that God was: BE STILL. God didn’t politely say “If you could please slow down ever so slightly and believe I am God that would be fantastic” rather He cut to the chase and said BE STILL. Quiet your heart, your soul, stop the mental checklist, the worry brigade, the finger tapping, and the Facebook scrolling. How can we truly know God if we don’t heed to God’s first request to be still?
Now, as a never slowing down mother of five, I do not find being still easy. Before you eye roll at this misleading comment please hear me out. I say this not because I don’t desire to be still, rather I often secretly daydream of sitting on a beach with two iced lattes in either hand and zero little humans climbing all over me. However, I, like many women, often don’t allow my soul to slow down enough to ever become STILL. My heart and mind are constantly moving – the complete opposite of still.
As I wash the dishes I’m debating if I failed my son because I’m not sure I was cut out for teaching him to read. While losing my patience with my oldest three who are entangled in a fight, I’m cringing at the thick layer of sticky gook, a.k.a. my kitchen floor, that I just never get around to mopping. During an explosive diaper change, I notice the toddler coloring by herself for 1,376th day in a row and I fear she is getting lost in the crowd. As I finally read the pile of ignored text messages that come through my phone I realize and regret that I forgot a friend’s birthday and concoct a way to make it up to her while simultaneously feeling guilty that I’m ignoring my kids for 120 seconds and am convinced they will all need therapy for the “device” neglect their entire generation will receive. Ooo shoot I forgot to register for soccer and now I have to email the Rec director and beg for mercy so my boys won’t be devastated. Wait maybe it’s better off anyways as one of my sons usually spends half of his time beating himself up for missing goals. Do I want to deal with that emotional struggle again?
My soul struggles to rest as it constantly stirs with worry, excites with ambition and runs down a never ending checklist. Yet I hear this message from our gracious and generous God: “Slow down my beloved daughter and delight in My goodness”….. “BE STILL”. What does this look like? Now my sweet sisters, I don’t think our Lord is asking me to sit on my crayon stained couch while my kiddos run amuck and the diapers go unchanged, the meals uncooked and the bills unpaid (though let’s be real that does sound appealing). Rather He is calling us to find a deep stillness within our restless souls so we can intimately invite Him into the grainiest crevices of our lives. When the many meltdowns are happening, the dinner is burning or I’m rushing five little people out the door, He asks me to MOVE forward with a STILLNESS set on Him.
He is inviting me to quietly center my heart so that I may know His goodness, His generosity, His mercy, His deep friendship, His undying love for me…..so that I may know HIM! When we actively quiet our usually busy souls in order to turn our gaze towards Him, even in the midst of the chaotic moving juggle we call life, it isn’t just knowing Him that becomes our sweet reward. Rather it is through this active effort to be still that we can find an authentic rest that only God’s Graces can provide.
He promised us in Matthew 11:28 that if we come to Him, I mean truly come to Him by pivoting our hearts toward Him, He WILL give us rest! “Come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest” ! Mic drop!! When we still our souls enough to look to Him in the midst of these busy and hard moments He delights in swelling up so much within us that there literally becomes less room for fear, anxiety, anger and worry. Do you see the circle ladies? It is in this stilling of our hearts that we come to see and to Know God who then in turn gives us an unearthly rest and elevates our souls to an even greater stillness. What a truly good God He is!!!
~Suzanne Bilodeau